Practitioner record · Checked 9 Oct 2026

Wendie Vanderwater has been in practice 22 years and is licensed in Montana. Wendie lists stress, Anxiety, relationship issues and trauma and abuse among 52 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Wendie's own BetterHelp listing, taken from public licensing records, or written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such. Nothing here is an availability promise, a review, or a rating.

22years in practice
52subjects listed
7approaches listed

01 · Who Wendie works with

Wendie works with stress, Anxiety, relationship issues and trauma and abuse

Wendie lists 18 specialisms and 34 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Wendie chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • Relationship issues
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Self esteem
  • Depression
  • LGBT
  • Family conflicts
  • Grief
  • Intimacy-related issues
  • Eating disorders
  • Parenting issues
  • Anger management
  • Career difficulties
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Coping with life changes
  • Coaching
  • Compassion fatigue
  • ADHD
Also experienced with
  • Abandonment
  • Adoption and foster care
  • Aging and geriatric issues
  • Autism and Asperger Syndrome
  • Caregiver issues and stress
  • Co-morbidity
  • Communication problems
  • Control issues
  • Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
  • Emptiness
  • Family of origin issues
  • Family problems
  • Fatherhood issues
  • Forgiveness
  • Gender dysphoria
  • Guilt and shame
  • Impulsivity
  • Intellectual disability
  • Isolation / loneliness
  • Life purpose
  • Mood disorders
  • Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
  • Panic disorder and panic attacks
  • Paranoia
  • Personality disorders
  • Phobias
  • Postpartum depression
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
  • Self-harm
  • Self-love
  • Social anxiety and phobia
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Young adult issues

02 · In Wendie's own words

What Wendie says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

I have 19 years experience working with all different types of people. I use many different treatment methods, geared towards what works for you. My style is to be honest and real with people. I am not judgmental and believe many people are too hard on themselves. You choose what you are comfortable with. Do you want homework or just to work in therapy? Often treatments are combined such as DBT and CBT. We may work on mindfulness along with journaling as a way to get in touch with feelings. I use DBT on a daily basis so i know it works. Mindfulness is an important factor in treatment. I will ask questions in order to discover what you need. I see issues as a challenge to discovering what works for you. I also believe that you need to do things to make yourself happy. Volunteer, join a book club, it is important to keep yourself active.

Wendie Vanderwater, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Wendie works

The 7 approaches Wendie lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Wendie lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Wendie's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Wendie runs a session.

Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian
The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.
Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT
Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.
Dialectical Behaviour TherapyDBT
A structured skills-led adaptation of CBT built around holding two things at once: accepting yourself as you are and working to change. Teaches concrete skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation and relationships. Developed for people whose feelings arrive at overwhelming intensity, and strongest-evidenced there.
Mindfulness-Based TherapyMBCT
Trains attention on what is happening right now - body, breath, the thought as it arrives - so distress can be observed rather than automatically acted on. Strongest evidence is in preventing depression from recurring, and it is usually taught as a practice you keep doing outside the session.
Motivational InterviewingMI
A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.
Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT
Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.
Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed
CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Wendie practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Wendie's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

  1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

    BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Wendie at this point.

  2. Naming Wendie specifically

    BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Wendie is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Wendie.

  3. If the caseload is full

    You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

  4. The first conversation

    A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

  5. If the fit is wrong

    Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

4 questions worth asking Wendie

Built from what Wendie actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Wendie's - Wendie has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

  • “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Client-Centred Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

    Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

  • “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

    Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

  • “With 22 years in, what has changed most in how you work?”

    Long experience is only an advantage if it has been examined. This tends to surface whether it has.

  • “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

    On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential
LCSW
Licensed in
Montana
Licence
MT LCSW BBH-LCSW-LIC-32399
Licence number
BBH-LCSW-LIC-32399
Licence expires
31 Dec 2026
NPI
1619438074
Years in practice
22
Gender
Female
Languages
English
International clients
Not accepted
Listed since
15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Wendie's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Wendie. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

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